Time Management Secrets – Identifying Your Most Common Time Wasting Habits.

Time Wasting Habits

As a professional Internet marketer and business coach, one of the things I notice about my clients is that they just don’t get things done, on a regular basis. This means not meeting the deadlines, add following up on promises or commitments they have made to their clients or themselves because they just run out of time.

In order to focus on improving your time management techniques, you first need to determine where your worst habits lie. Do people constantly interrupt your day with small questions, got a minutes, or other interruptions that you find by the end of the day, nothing been accomplished because this? Do you waste precious time surfing the Internet? Do you lose track of time each time you sort through your mail? Do you become easily distracted when returning phone calls and lose sight of your original goal?

Our goal here is to give you some concrete information and strategies that will truly increase your productivity during the entire day.

Time Wasting Habits

In order to pinpoint the areas that waste the most time, you need to create a picture of your typical workday. The easiest and most revealing way to do this is to track and analyze your activities for one week prior to forming a time management plan. By committing to the act of activity tracking you will not only be able to identify areas for improvement, but you will also be able to determine at which times of the day you are at your most efficient.

In order to track your current activities you need a tool that will allow you to make notations without adding further interruptions to your day. Are you using some kind of day timer, electronic device, and are you really planning your days out before they actually happen. I use my IPhone which is connected to my computer and using Outlook calendar so that my Outlook calendar and my IPhone sync and that allows me to micromanage my days ( including my personal and business appointments ). This makes me super productive and I rarely miss any of my appointments, personal or business.

Once you have chosen your tracking tool, record everything you do each day and the amount of time you spend doing it. Write down how many minutes you spent fixing your morning cup of coffee, how long you spent shuffling through the afternoon mail, even how long you chat with your spouse on the phone. You will be amazed to see the results.

Every time you move from one activity to another, take a moment and jot down the change. Do not make the mistake of relying on memory and making your notations at the end of the day. Your memory has a funny way of leaving out unimportant actions such as coffee making or ink cartridge changes, and also of underestimating exactly how many minutes your really spent enjoying your brownbag lunch. Also take a moment to jot down how you were feeling while completing the noted task. Where you energetic? Tired? Alert? Stressed? These notations will help you later when you work to determine your most productive hours each day.
One of the most important time management tips I ever learned was something called Gotta minutes.

I learned this in the course by a guy named Chet Holmes, and what he said was during our day, literally hours and hours can be eaten up by colleagues of staff asking you if you got a minute. What he suggested was put a wooden box ( like a small mailbox ) outside your door mounted to the wall, with a small notepad paper and a pen on a string, and when people need you for a minute to ask a question, right to question down on the paper and stick it in the box. You then have specified times during the day where you empty the box and address all the questions at one time. Now, unless you have people asking you, time sensitive questions. This can be a incredible time saver.

Aside from the previous three pieces of information, do not include any other notations. The key to this activity is to get a real sense of how you currently use your time. If you spend too much time on this activity it will disrupt the picture you paint of your activities.

Also, do not leave out or ignore your personal activities. As a business owner, your business and personal life most likely overlaps. Documenting how you spend every moment of your day will enable you to determine every area of your life where you could benefit form time management.

Once you have completed an entire week of activity tracking, analyze your entries to find your weak spots. You may be surprised to learn that you spend two hours each day leaving and retrieving phone messages, or shuffling paperwork form one pile to another.

Once you have identified the problem areas, read on to discover ways to decrease wasted time, increase productivity, and utilize your time efficiently.

I sure hope you got some great tips on his article.
I’m giving away an entire course called time management secrets.